While most people joyfully anticipate the festivities that come during the Fall and Winter months, many ice cream and frozen yogurt shops seem to loath the slowing down of their sales. Of course, it’s no surprise that foot traffic can dip down in the colder months. But with that being said, there are some key things your business can do to re-engage your customers this time of year and keep the cash flow coming in.
Start offering specialty flavors that relate to the season. Flavors like pumpkin, candy cane, gingerbread, cinnamon, eggnog and even fruit cake are excellent options to promote at your shop. These same flavors can apply to toppings as well. For example, there’s pumpkin cheesecake, white chocolate candy canes, peppermint patties, sugar cookies or candy corns.
Let’s face it, the main reason sales dip is because of the cold weather. Adding hot drinks options to your menu will be more enticing so that customers can warm up and not get even more cold from eating frozen yogurt or ice cream. Not only is hot coffee and tea a great idea, but adding kid-friendly options such as hot chocolate and hot cider are even better.
Now it’s time to take the heat up another notch. Start incorporating melted options such as melted chocolates, candy bars, etc to your topping selection. Serving your froyo or ice cream with warm pies, cookies or brownies is even better.
Potential customers won’t know that you now have seasonal flavors and hot options at your shop unless you inform them. Social media is the perfect (and free) tool you can use to let everyone know what new specialty options you have. Most people pack on a few extra pounds in these months so advertising your low fat options is a good way people can indulge without feeling too guilty. It’s this time of year when people are gift shopping as well, so be sure to let everyone know that your gift cards are the perfect gift for any ice cream or froyo lovers out there.
We hope that this article has been of benefit for you. We‘ve been helping small businesses succeed since 2004 and provide them a variety of resources. To check out more helpful tools and tricks, check out our industry page for your business to see how you can continue to grow your business and reach your optimal potential.